Chapter 16

Disclaimer: We may not own Twilight, but we own Sam, Danny, and Conner who are so much cooler then any of the Twilight characters will ever be! Well, Alice and Jasper may be cooler…

Bella's POV

We soon landed in Milan and the six (Alice, Jasper, Sam, Danny, Conner, and I) of us exited the plane. We all sat and waited for the rest of the family to show up. The rest of the family being Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett of course! After Rose and Emmett got over their honeymoon phase—again—they went back to Carlisle and Esme. They weren't directly a part of our coven, but we still considered each other family. Normally, we see each over every month or so, but it's been half of a year since last time we saw them.

One day, Danny, Alice, Jasper, and I got invitations to come to Volterra for a small "gathering." There was going to be dancing, a boring speech from Aro, and blood (animal and human). Sam and Conner didn't get invitations, though. After calling Carlisle, we found out they didn't get one either. Carlisle thinks they're trying to recruit new members. Apparently "you are formally invited" means "come or we'll hunt you down and burn your asses" in Volturi-speak, also.

The invitation also said we could bring our coven if we wanted to. Since we are too afraid to go to Volterra without Carlisle, we are saying that they are part of our coven. Technically, they are; they just don't live with us.

"Move," said Sam stubbornly as she and Conner fought over the chair beside the one I sat in. "I wanna sit by my sister!" she whined. Sam and Conner fought like Sam and Edward had; Sam actually liked Conner in a brotherly way, unlike how she thought of Edward as a worthless waste of space.

Edward. No one has heard from him in over ten years. I was actually worried that he was dead for a while, but I don't care anymore. I have Conner, and that's all I need. The relationship between Conner and I isn't always a serious relationship, but its fun.

Conner was about to push Sam out of the way and win the seat next to me. "HA! Beat that!" he said in Sam's face uncomfortably. He was holding his breath to avoid the scents of the humans that walked around us.

"Just couldn't stay away from me, huh?" I smirked, copying his words from the plane. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Of course I can't! I love you too much," he stated as if it were obvious.

"Yeah, yeah, I love you too. Now move. I want to sit by my sister." His face fell and he gave me a puppy dog pout. "Not going to work… move!"

Sam did a victory dance before sticking her tongue out at Conner and pushing him out of her seat.

"Fine! I'm going to talk to my favorite sister," he said stubbornly and marched over to Alice. She was watching the planes land. Beside her was Jasper and Danny, who were talking about sports. Danny was a sporty person and liked mostly the violent sports like hockey and boxing, and also the extreme sports.

I was laughing so hard at the mock look of hurt on Sam's face that I didn't hear footsteps behind me. Arms wrapped around me and gave me a bone-crushing bear hug that lifted me off the ground.

"Emmett, put me down!" I shrieked, causing humans that passing us to look our direction. He dropped me on the ground, letting me fall on my butt. "Watch it," I warned, standing back up and hitting him on the back off the head.

Rosalie also hit him on the back of the head. "Idiot," she muttered and we all laughed at Emmett. I gave Rose a big hug. We had become closer in the last couple of years.

By the time I finished giving Carlisle and Esme hugs, the rest of the family had gathered to give hugs of their own. "Shall we head to Volterra, then?" asked Carlisle. We all nodded reluctantly, feeling sullen about going to the dreaded Volturi.

We got three rental cars and split up. Carlisle and Esme got one car with Carlisle driving. Rose, Emmett, Alice and Jasper got the next car. Alice beat Rose down to the ground so she could drive. Sam, Danny, Conner, and I got the last car and unfortunately, Sam was driving. I clutched onto Conner's hand and prayed that she wasn't going to crash again. It's not like it would hurt us, but it made a mess of everything.

Soon, we made it to a small, but beautiful town. It looked ancient and terrifying, but that's what made it beautiful. A castle towered over the city, perched on a big hill. Once we got into the city we parked our car and met up with the others. It was cloudy today, so we had no risk of exposure.

"So, Carlisle, what do we do now?" asked Danny with a hint of impatience. Before Carlisle could answer, two grey figures walked towards us, seeming to materialize out of the shadows.

"Aro has sent us to bring you to the castle," said the one on the left, and they started to walk back up the hill that held the Volturi Castle. We followed.

When inside the castle, I looked around at the beautiful decorations as we got a tour of some random parts of the castle. I found myself falling behind the two Volturi Guards and the guys of our covens.

Wait… where are the girls?

Out of no where, a hand wrapped around my mouth and dragged me into one of the many rooms of the Volturi Castle. My shrieks for help were muffled by the strong hand that also found off my struggles.

I squinted my eyes in the dark room, but could still see with my super-vampire scenes. The hand disappeared and my eyes adjusted to the darkness only to see an evil grin beaming in my face. Alice. I couldn't help it; I screamed for my life and ran for the door. It was guarded by Sam. The two windows were guarded by Esme and Rose. I thought they were family. Family would never do this to family. "Family my ass," I muttered to myself.

"Now Bella, don't be cross. It's a dance, so it wouldn't be right if you went into the ball room in front of many of the vampire population in ratty jeans and an old, ugly t-shirt," Alice tried to reason. I knew I should have been suspicious when she didn't try to dress me up for the plane ride here, and let me wear whatever I wanted.

"The boys are going to dress up, too. And don't you want to dress up for Conner? He said he was looking forward to seeing my work in the fashion arts on you," Alice said.

"He what?" I asked. THAT TRAITOR! How could he agree with Alice's torment when he knew I hated it? He didn't even tip me off that they were planning it. Edward would never have agreed to that. At least the Edward I knew as a human wouldn't have; I don't know about the Edward I met as a vampire, though.

Why am I even thinking about Edward at all?

"Oops," Alice smiled apologetically and looked at the others. "I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?"

"You tell me; you can see the answer I'm about to say," replied Sam.

"Bella, forget what I said. Do it for me, please?" begged Alice with her award-winning puppy pout. I gave in.

"You should have seen that the pout was going to work this easy and done that in the beginning," scoffed Sam. She likes annoying Alice with the vision comments. Alice gave her an irritated glare but otherwise ignored it. She had work to do.

Two hours later, I found myself in a strapless, dark blue ball gown that flowed to the floor. I was caked with a simple layer of make-up. After Alice had put me in the dress, she spent a half of an hour alone persuading me to let down my shield so she could put the make up on. Make up wasn't part of the deal!

The other girls put on their dresses too at some point when they weren't caking my face. We walked down the hall, trying to remember the way to the ballroom, when Aro's voice boomed throughout the castle. "Welcome guests, to the castle Volterra. I'm glad you all came to this gathering, as some like to call it." Aro started to talk about the Volturi and what they are, making them sound a lot more awesome then they really are. Then he started talking about the members of the guard, their powers, and some personal information.

We finally found the double doors of the ball room.

"…We move on to Alec's twin sister, Jane. She looks harmless, but is quite the opposite…"

At the front of the room stood three black-cloaked men known as Aro, Marcus, and Caius, the "Vampire Kings." Aro stood in the middle, talking. They weren't actually kings, but they were similar to them. Around them stood the highest ranked vampires in the Volturi with their dark grey, almost black, cloaks. In front of them was a larger group of vampires, the rest of the Volturi guard, with smoky grey cloaks on.

"Where's the guys?" asked Rose, scanning the crowd.

I scanned along with her. I caught Conner's eyes in the crowd, standing near the others who listened to Aro, smiling at me. I looked away from the traitor. "I don't see them. Let's go look over there," I suggested, pointing in the opposite direction I had found Conner and the others in. I knew he could probably hear me, and I didn't care in the slightest. I was mad at him and wanted him to know it.

"…and we highly value Jane's power here in the guard. Next, we have our newest member of ten years. Turned in 1918 at the age 17, his powers are …"

"Oh god dammit," cursed Sam. "And when I finally get my privacy!" she exclaimed quietly. I followed her gaze to a smoky-cloaked man glaring at Sam. What she had said was too quiet for even vampire ears at his distance away to hear, but that's probably not why he was glaring. Sam must have said something mean in her mind.

But this was no ordinary man. He had bronze hair, cut to only be two inches or so, and spiked up. He was somehow paler, more dangerous looking. His eyes glowed a bright red, obviously freshly fed. He couldn't be…

"…Edward Masen…" Aro's words in his incredibly long monologue of rambling verified that the red-eyed man staring daggers at Sam was indeed, Edward Cullen, or was it Masen now?

Sam looked at Alice. "How come you didn't see this, either?" Alice just shook her head, ashamed not that she didn't see this, but that her ex-brother was in the Volturi guard.

I was going to end here, but it's not long enough for my liking.

Conner's POV

I stared at the back of Bella's head as she moved to the other side of the ballroom. I hadn't been paying too much attention to what the old vampire dude was saying until two words caught my attention.

"…Edward Masen…" My body went colder and I froze. The shocked gasps of the Cullens and Swans beside me seemed distant. All I wanted to do was go and punch that Edward in the face. I came back when Aro had finished his speech and started up the music to dance. The bronze-haired bastard started to walk in Bella's direction.

Oh, hell no.

I walked fast pace through the gobs of people, pushing some aside if needed. They'd say some mean comment to their friends about how rude I was and move on. No big deal.

Edward was just about to tap Bella's shoulder. Bella was turned around and started talking Sam, both of them acting like he wasn't even there. Rose, Esme, and Alice had left to go find their men and see if they had heard the news.

"Get way from my girl," I said rather loudly. People around us turned to stare.

"Your girl? Last I checked she was mine," replied Edward snottily like he owned her. From what I've heard, this dude didn't have an attitude before. That's what human blood can do to you, though.

"Yeah, ten years ago. This is what happens when you leave a girl, Eddie. They move on and find a better man," I said. I gave him a smug smile. I knew everything about him and all he knew was that I was Bella's boyfriend. Edward growled at me when I thought that word.

By now, most of the guests and guards were watching us. "Maybe you were just her rebound," suggested Edward, "What do you think, Bella?"

I shifted my eyes to look at Bella. I could tell that she wanted to argue against Edward in my defense, but she was too mad at me to do so. I knew exactly why, too. Why'd I have to side with Alice in the first place?

Edward smirked. He now knew we were fighting, and why thanks to my stupid brain. "See, she's not even going to defend you. She's really mad, Conner. You must have screwed up pretty bad," he said.

"Really, I'm the one who screwed up?" I said. I'd had it with Edward. He had no right to talk about pissing off Bella; he's left her TWICE. I opened my mouth to say something more, but quickly changed my mind.

I spontaneously lunged at him. I hadn't been thinking—I never do—so he didn't expect it.

This is for Bella, Eddie-Boy, I thought as I punched him in the stomach.

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